Obstacle detection method

Abstract

A method is provided for the detection of an obstacle in a road, in particular of a pedestrian, in the surroundings in the range of view of an optical sensor attached to a movable carrier such as in particular a vehicle, wherein a first image is taken by means of the optical sensor at a first time and a second image is taken at a later second time, a first transformed image is produced by a transformation of the first taken image from the image plane of the optical sensor into the road plane, a further transformed image is produced from the first transformed image while taking account of the carrier movement in the time period between the first time and the second time, the further transformed image is transformed back from the road plane into the image plane and an image stabilization is carried out based on the image transformed back into the image plane and on the second taken image.

1 . A method for detection of a pedestrian in a road in a surroundings in a range of view of an optical sensor attached to a vehicle, comprising
 taking a first image using the optical sensor at a first time and a second image at a later second time;   producing a first transformed image by a transformation of the first image from an image plane of the optical sensor into a road plane;   producing a further transformed image from the first transformed image while taking account vehicle movement in a time period between the first time and the second time;   transforming the further transformed image back from the road plane into the image plane; and   carrying out an image stabilization based on the further transformed image transformed back into the image plane and on the second taken image.   
   
   
       2 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , characterized in that the first transformed image is transformed into the later second time for the production of the further transformed image while taking account of vehicle movement including vehicle speed or vehicle yaw speed. 
   
   
       3 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , characterized in that vehicle movement includes vehicle speed or vehicle yaw speed and is taken into account in the production of the further transformed image by a corresponding translation or rotation of the first transformed image. 
   
   
       4 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , characterized in that the image stabilization compensates for road bumpiness, vehicle inclination, or vehicle vibrations. 
   
   
       5 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising producing a respective edge image in the image stabilization from the back transformed image and the second taken image. 
   
   
       6 . A method in accordance with  claim 5 , further comprising calculating a movement vector from the edge image obtained for the further transformed image transformed back into the image plane and the second taken image, and using the movement vector for compensation of the further transformed image. 
   
   
       7 . A method in accordance with  claim 6 , characterized in that the movement vector is corrected by a Kalman filtering and the corrected movement vector is used for the compensation. 
   
   
       8 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein the optical sensor is a video camera. 
   
   
       9 . A method in accordance with  claim 8 , wherein the video camera is a mono-camera. 
   
   
       10 . A computer program comprising computer readable instructions effective to configure a microprocessor to carry out a method for detection of a pedestrian in a road in a range of view of an optical sensor attached to a vehicle, said method comprising
 receiving from an optical sensor a first image at a first time and a signal corresponding to a second image at a later second time;   producing a first transformed image by a transformation of the first image from an image plane of the optical sensor into a road plane;   producing a further transformed image from the first transformed image while taking account vehicle movement in a time period between the first time and the second time;   transforming the further transformed image back from the road plane into the image plane; and   carrying out an image stabilization based on the further transformed image transformed back into the image plane and on the second taken image.   
   
   
       11 . An apparatus for detection of a pedestrian in a road, said apparatus comprising
 an optical sensor attached to a vehicle and adapted to take a first image at a first time and a second image at a later second time; and   a data processing device for receiving the first image and the second image and configured to carry out a method for detection of a pedestrian in a road in a range of view of the optical sensor, said method comprising   producing a first transformed image by a transformation of the first image from an image plane of the optical sensor into a road plane;   producing a further transformed image from the first transformed image while taking account vehicle movement in a time period between the first time and the second time;   transforming the further transformed image back from the road plane into the image plane; and   carrying out an image stabilization based on the further transformed image transformed back into the image plane and on the second taken image.